In this economy, everyone is looking for a simple fix to survive and arrive safely on the other side. Some even remain optimistic about growing their businesses. Few are happy with their situations. And most point their fingers at the economy as the source of their dismay.
The comments I overheard at one of my recent Top Gun seminars were representative. One salesperson complained his customers were shrinking and their companies were going out of business. Several complained about customers' pressure to lower prices.
Unfortunately, as long as our gaze is directed at everyone and everything else, we will never free ourselves from the constraints on our income and prosperity. The real secret to improving our conditions is to work on ourselves.
Salespeople
Salespeople must understand that it was OK just a few years ago, to "have your own style of selling," to never invest in your own improvement, to make your living off of your existing relationships. Today, all of these are obsolete ideas that must be changed.
To effectively deal with the changing economy, salespeople must become more strategic and thoughtful about the investment of their sales time, and they must bring value both to the customer and to their employers in every sales call. In a world where it is blatantly obvious that good salespeople sell more than mediocre salespeople, they must decide to become better. That means investing in their own improvement, and striving to achieve higher levels of competency, leading to better results.
Sales Managers
Likewise, sales managers have to stop coddling those salespeople who aren't interested in, or committed to, continuous improvement and greater levels of productivity. They need to enforce practices and disciplines that call for quantifiable expectations on the part of their sales team, regular measurements and greater thoughtfulness and strategic planning.
Sales managers must look inward, understanding that their chances of success are dependent on them, not the market.
They must examine their sales forces, and use this window of opportunity to weed out salespeople who have no interest in developing, who don't have the capability to succeed as a professional salesperson and who aren't committed to their own personal successes.
Sales Executives
CEOs and CSOs (chief sales officers) need to recognize the current state of the economy, and the resulting impact on the attitudes and perspectives of employees, has delivered a once in a lifetime opportunity to make significant changes in the structure of the sales force.
Recall just a little over a year ago. To make wholesale changes in sales territories, account responsibilities, the role of the inside and outside salesperson, sales management practices, compensation plans and expectations for continuous improvement—all of these initiatives would have been met with resistance from the majority of the sales force. Today, most salespeople are cooperative, acutely aware that they easily can be replaced if they don't follow your lead.
Those CEOs and CSOs who look inward and use this window of opportunity to streamline and rationalize their sales systems will increase their productivity and lay the groundwork for disproportional growth when the economy turns up.
The world is full of victims. Leaders accept responsibility, look inward and improve themselves.
By Dave Kahle
Copyright (2010). Dave Kahle has written seven books, and presented in 47 states and seven countries. Sign up for his weekly Ezine at www.davekahle.com/mailinglist.html, or visit his blog at www.davekahle.com/salesblog/. For more information, contact: The DaCo Corporation, 835 West River Center Drive, PO Box 523, Comstock Park, MI 49321 or e-mail cheryl@davekahle.com, visit www.davekahle.com, call (800) 331-1287 or (616) 451-9377 or fax (616) 451-9412.